CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Matthew McConaughey spent considerable time in Cleveland recently filming a movie called "White Boy Rick." The film is based on the true story of a Detroit crack dealer sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for possessing nearly 17 pounds of cocaine.

Rick Wershe Jr. was 18 years old at the time of his 1988 conviction. The inevitable social commentary in a movie based on Wershe's adolescence promises to be compelling. His story raises important questions and illuminates a few criminal justice hypocrisies along the way.

For starters, why was a non-violent juvenile sentenced to life without parole possibilities? In Michigan as in Ohio, adult murderers and rapists are routinely released after serving far less time than the 29 years Wershe currently has on the books.

In 2003, Michigan rewrote the draconian law used to convict Wershe, a change that now renders him eligible for parole. A decision on his latest parole request filed Thursday is expected soon.

Starting at the age of 14, Wershe, who had no juvenile drug convictions, was recruited to work as an informant for the Detroit Police Department and the FBI. The teenager proved skilled in the ways of a double agent. Despite being Caucasian in an overwhelmingly African-American city, Wershe infiltrated a major Detroit drug organization, and helped bring down a couple of the city's top kingpins.

The cinematic intrigue embedded in Wershe's story is undeniable, but it's the law enforcement exploitation and grooming of children that fascinates me most. How often does it happen? What are the ethics surrounding the recruitment and use of teenage informants?

When the FBI lost interest in the use of Wershe's snitching services, having achieved the convictions they sought, he was discarded. By then, the high school dropout had an insider's view of the crack-cocaine business. In short order, he became a major dealer himself, while beginning to openly date the married niece of the late Detroit Mayor Coleman Young.

Wershe's success didn't last long, though. The Drug Enforcement Agency quickly took note of the flashy teenager attempting to establish a Miami-to-Detroit drug pipeline, and ended his career as it was taking off.

If Wershe is paroled by the movie's January release date, his journey will make for an interesting epilogue. Heroin is now the drug that bedevils his hometown. In the meantime, McConaughey appears to have left Cleveland better than he found it. His Just Keep Livin foundation, which works to empower high school students, has added Cleveland to the cities it sponsors with fitness and wellness programs.